Page:A narrative of travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro.djvu/308

 275 TRAVELS ON THE AMAZON. [August,

were very painful. No ship appeared in sight, though we were crossing the track of the West India vessels. It was rather squally, and I passed a nervous, uncomfortable night ; our boats did not, however, now leak so much, which was a great satisfaction.

The ioth was squally, and the wind veered to the south- west, so that we could not make our course for Bermuda, but were obliged to go to the north of it. The sea ran very high, and sudden gusts of wind would frequently heel us over in a manner very alarming to me. We had some heavy showers of rain, and should have liked to have caught some fresh water, but could not, as all our clothes and the sails were saturated with salt. Our position at noon was in latitude 31 59' north, longitude 57 22' west.

The nth was still rough and squally. There was less gulf- weed now. The wind got still more to the westward, so that we were obliged to go nearly north. Our boats had now got swollen with the water, and leaked very little. This night I saw some more falling stars.

On the 1 2th the wind still kept foul, and we were getting quite out of the track of ships, and appeared to have but little chance of reaching Bermuda. The long-boat passed over some green water to-day, a sign of there being soundings, probably some rock at a moderate depth. Many dolphins swam about the boats ; their colours when seen in the water are superb, the most gorgeous metallic hues of green, blue, and gold : I was never tired of admiring them.

On the 13th the wind was due west, blowing exactly from the point we wanted to go to. The day was very fine, and there were several stormy petrels, or Mother Cary's chickens, flying about us. We had now been a week in the boats, and were only halfway to the Islands, so we put all hands on short allowance of water before it was too late. The sun was very hot and oppressive, and we suffered much from thirst.

The 14th was calm, and we could not get on at all. The sun was scorching and we had no shelter, and were parched with thirst the whole day. Numerous dolphins and pilot-fish were about the boats. At night there was a very slight favour- able breeze, and as we had by this time got our clothes pretty dry we slept well.

On the 15th the wind again died away, and we had another